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Arthe VAN LAER In 1957, the Member States of the European Economic Community (EEC) committed themselves to create a Common Market, which also implied the opening up of public procurement. 1 For a long time nevertheless they continued to reserve most of their public orders for national firms. From the early 1960s the liberalization of public procurement was debated at the EEC Council, but it only materialized after directives regulating the procedures for the award of public contracts had been adopted. This was the case for public works in 1971 and for public supplies in 1976 only. A directive regulating public procurement in the sectors of water, energy, transport and telecommunications was issued in 1990, whereas public procurement in the sector of services was only regulated in 1992. 2 Especially in strategic high technology sectors, the EEC governments used public procurement to support indigenous industrial capacity. These national policies did however not prevent Europe from falling technologically behind the United States. In the late 1960s, Europe became dramatically aware of a widening 'technology gap'. In response to this American challenge, the European Commission proposed a common technology policy. 3 The individual markets of the EEC member states were too small to sustain competitive high tech companies, and not large enough to keep pace with the research and development investments of their American rivals. Economic logic commanded unification of the EEC market. And in the case of high technology products, public orders formed a considerable part of this market. To foster the liberalization of public procurement, the

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